IE Academic Programs offers semester and summer courses in Italian Language, Arts and Humanities, Music, Social Sciences and Fine Arts, with transferable college credits. Courses, except for Italian language are mostly taught in English.
The school is located on two floors of a historic building in Piazza del Duomo and hosts an international student body.

To study on the Sarah Lawrence program in Florence is to inhabit history, to step into a living text; it is to directly encounter some of the world’s greatest art and gain the critical tools to confront it fully.

It is to take in a city of subtle moods from literary, historical and archaeological vantage points; to create one’s own art and music in studios under the guidance of practicing artists and musicians. In short, it is to take an academic journey of extraordinary breadth and depth.

As a student on the Sarah Lawrence program, you’ll have extensive opportunities to delve into the culture of Italy, to pursue your academic interests through the highly refined lens that is Florence. In this seat of humanism and individual accomplishment, you’ll receive personal attention from Italian faculty in humanities seminars and in studio courses in the visual arts and music.

Living in an Italian home, you will gain a command of the Italian language. And as your learning expands, you’ll gain an inner knowledge—and an intellectual confidence—that will take you well beyond the city’s gates.

This full-year program begins with four weeks of intensive language study, cultural orientation, an art history course and excursions. During each semester students enroll infour courses, including one or two courses at the University of Florence and two or three Smith Program courses offered by Italian professors in Renaissance Art History, Italian Literature, Contemporary Italian History, Italian Stylistics, and Opera.

Students live in Florentine homes, situated within walking distance of the Smith Center and central Florence. Students eat breakfast and dinner with their families, and receive a stipend for lunches.

Among the numerous programs for U.S. students in Florence, Middlebury’s is noteworthy for the linguistic proficiency of its students who are appreciated by the Florentine community for the seriousness of their commitment to experience Italian life fully and to live in the culture.

Middlebury’s School, or Sede, is located at the Palazzo Giugni, a sixteenth century palace designed by the renowned Bartolomeo Ammannati, which is situated in the academic heart of the old city, an area bustling with coffee shops, bookstores, cultural clubs, and academic buildings. The Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio, and Florence’s other main monuments are all within easy walking distance.

Marist College, an accredited U.S. institution, has developed a branch campus in Florence, Italy to become the first school to offer study abroad students a U.S. four-year bachelor’s degree program in Florence, in collaboration with the Istituto Lorenzo de’Medici, a well-known institution founded in 1972 as one of the first schools in Florence designed to teach Italian as a second language. Through the partnership between LDM and Marist College, you will find 10 BA programs and 1 masters program available to those coming from abroad. For more information on what else Istituto Lorenzo de’Medici offers, look on their website or follow our link here.

Accommodation by Studentsville

Our own, studentsVille tourist and student apartment agencies specializing in quality rentals at honest prices, and a complete list of our trusted partners. Enjoy your stay in the cradle of the Renaissance, in apartments selected by our staff! We have been all around Florence, finding, controlling and approving a list of choice apartments, which we’ve compiled - just for you - in the two portals above. All have been personally visited and put up against our standards. So please, browse happily and with peace of mind. We’ll find you somewhere fabulous to stay:

Apartments in Florence

Apartmentsinflorence is a local real estate agency (officially registered with Florence’s Chamber of Commerce) run by Konnettiamo. Our staff have perfect knowledge of every neighborhood in Florence and have directly visited all apartments. This means we can offer the best solution for your business, study, vacation, or budget needs.